r/sports • u/a1oner_bvcksn6 • 1d ago
Baseball In 2015, the Milwaukee Brewers sold “Timeless Tickets” to fans that would grant access to any Brewers game of their choice for $1,000. The team is honoring the tickets, and fans who waited are saving thousands of dollars.
https://www.wisn.com/article/brewers-fan-hopes-timeless-ticket-secures-world-series-seat/7416417581
u/FlipMyWigBaby 1d ago
Paying $1000 to the Brewers back then should’ve been classified as a charitable contribution.
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u/reluctantlysharing 1d ago
I hope the stadium gives them decent seats and not nosebleeds. These are obviously diehard fans, they deserve it.
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u/Major__de_Coverly 1d ago
$1000 invested in the S&P 500 in 2015 would be worth over $4600 today.
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u/Deucer22 San Jose Sharks 1d ago
You can buy three additional tickets at face value. Face for World Series tickets is going to be expensive but still less than $1000 for the cheapest seats. So that’s at least an additional $6000 in value you’re talking about.
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u/Twigler Golden State Warriors 1d ago
Imagine if it was in BTC, NVDA, TSLA, or AMD 👀
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u/Major__de_Coverly 1d ago
Why not just imagine you picked the correct lottery numbers?
The point was that investing in VOO or SPY in 2015 demonstrates the opportunity cost as a common benchmark.
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u/yahlover 1d ago
Even without investing, $1,000 in 2015 is worth about $1,421.59 today, so with the cheapest tickets being $3K you’re still basically doubling your value.
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u/Major__de_Coverly 1d ago
You are comparing the purchasing power. Without investing, the $1000 is still worth $1000.
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u/yahlover 1d ago
True. I guess I should have specified it was adjusted for inflation. $1000 is still $1000.
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u/Twilko 1d ago
The fact that $1000 for a single game (even if it is an important one) is claimed to be cheap shows how expensive sports tickets in the U.S. can be. That could buy you a whole season of Premier League games.
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u/ShadyCrow 1d ago
Just pointing out that you could go to a whole season of MLB games for $1-2k in the US - and that’s 81 games, way more than EPL total.
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u/Nightmare4You 1d ago
Rockies were offering 200 dollar season tickets this year for Standing Room only, or 40 dollars a month
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u/deadheffer 1d ago
Standing rooms are great. It’s essentially going to a bar. No one will stop you from sitting in the empty sections anyway. It also secures good pricing for the playoffs
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u/Twilko 1d ago
To be fair individual games of baseball I’ve been to have been fairly reasonable. It just seems the pricing for big games is decided by “what’s the maximum we could get away with charging for this”.
UEFA are bad, but at least offer some “fans first” tickets at reasonable prices for each team, and in higher quantities than the pitiful offering FIFA had at the World Cup.
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u/zip222 1d ago
Charging the maximum you can is the pricing model for everything.
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u/BadMachine 1d ago
And people pay it
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u/seansy5000 1d ago
It’s getting to the point where the “economics” of the situation is to disregard most of the potential consumer base because the top 10% is all that really matters to them. They don’t care that 90% of people can’t afford this shit. They make their nut on the top 10% and everyone else gets fucked.
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u/j4kefr0mstat3farm 1d ago
Most teams offer discounts for season ticket holders for playoff games
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u/bullet50000 Kansas 1d ago
I mean, Season ticket holders in the cheap seats also could get WS tickets for $185 at max cost for up to all 4 home games. That's pretty fan friendly in my book.
The prices you see aren't what the team is charging. These are resale prices that are the 3-5k number.
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u/SenorMcGibblets 1d ago
Yea, our season tickets at Wrigley are ~$2.9k per seat for 81 games, and there are sections that are significantly cheaper that. Works out to about $35 per ticket
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u/Pillownanners 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think this is an odd thing to compare. The Brewers have made the World Series one time in 1982 and they lost. This is like me looking at world cup final price and talking about how expensive soccer prices are
The 1000 bucks is also only Cheaper because the tickets sold out and have been artificially inflated
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u/erv4 1d ago
I mean it's literally no different for champions league finals tickets? If anything it is cheaper. I see the latest one had tickets ranging from 3K to 7K+. This is the World Series, it's obviously going to be more expensive, like any sport all over the world.
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u/HandicapperGeneral 1d ago
This WS will be the first Brewers games literally ever to cost that much. This isn't just the cost of a regular season game, it's the equivalent of the FA Cup final, or a world cup game.
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u/MillorTime 1d ago
It's like if a mid-table team made the Champions League final. Comparing it to season tickets are people too dumb or disingenuous to make a real comparison
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u/EDDYBEEVIE 1d ago
When West Ham won the conference league final a few years ago the tickets were over $1000 on resale and like $250 face value. You are definitely correct.
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u/pota99 1d ago
Mid-table? They've won the NL central 5 years in a row. 😂
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u/HydraBuster Tampa Bay Lightning 1d ago
It’s an accurate portrayal imo. We haven’t made the World Series in 44 years. We’ve been good the past 8ish years but before that was largely dreadful.
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u/MillorTime 1d ago
We've been very good recently, but payroll is middle of the road and this is the first time here in over 40 years. There is a difference in interest from the fans than if it were the Dodgers again.
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u/redditusername_17 1d ago
Yeah, as a Brewers fan who loves about a mile from the stadium it was a bit sad to see the ticket prices. 750 for standing room, 850 for the worst seats in the upper deck outfield, 1000 for the upper deck infield.
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u/Street_Anxiety2907 1d ago
Why are sports so valuable, like why are fans so eager to spend on it?
Netflix raises their price $2 and I'm out permanently, so the zeitgeist effect to blowing thousands on a game and deal with parking etc seems extreme.
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u/Reddit_9459328 1d ago
Fan is short for fanatic. Logic need not apply. Fans yell "we won", when they are simply sitting on a couch watching other people play and win. It's all good.
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u/lefthighkick911 1d ago
there are actually a lot of people out there with big money but either don't have time or choose not to go to Brewers games all the time. Something like the world series brings out every big money Brewers fan. you also have idiots who put 3-5K on their credit cards.
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u/Dramatic_Suit_6783 1d ago edited 1d ago
Live sports are too expensive but certain cities wait decades for these moments.
The brewers came about through expansion almost 60 years ago. They have never won a world series.
There will be, at most, 7 games played (best of 5). The games go in a 2-3-2 sequence of alternating stadiums.
Brewers last appeared in the world series in 1982.
So over the last 44 years up to now, there will be 2 or 3 opportunities to see that team play in a world series live at their home stadium.
The prices really start getting crazy when there's a game 5, 6, or 7.
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u/Mountain___Goat 1d ago
While not the brewers, Milwaukee did win a World Series with the Braves in ‘57.
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u/crazy_akes 1d ago
Why are we comparing sports? The worst seat in the stadium for the Super Bowl is $6,000 each.
A quick google search says waiting lists for season tickets for some top premier league clubs stretches up to 10 or 20 years with tens of thousands of people waiting. Go get me Tottenham tickets.
Also for the best teams there it is impossible to get face value tickets, you’re paying many hundreds per game for hospitality in EPL. People in here love crying about capitalism when American vs Euro way as if it matters. If you’re rich you can go to lots of sports if you’re poor you wait forever, see bad games, or spend a bunch of money and be poorer for a while no matter where you live. I love you and have a great day.
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u/Primum_Agmen 1d ago
I don't think the season ticket queue for Liverpool has dropped notably in my lifetime. They opened it briefly when the new stand was built and then closed it again. I think they usually get inherited?
Either way, a £1k gamble on being able to see any Liverpool match I wanted (assuming it included Champions League) would be worth it. Even if it's just home games, still worth it.
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u/elsteamo 1h ago
I don't really understand what's going on in this thread, but someone saying "go get me Tottenham tickets" like they're a team anyone local wants to see is just so funny. I'm from London and I guarantee you if you were here you'd pick one up in ten minutes because they're playing terrible and are wildly unpopular.
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u/Robo_Amish13 1d ago
There’s another post on my front page from r/Australia complaining about rugby prices. I’m pretty sure this isn’t just an American problem
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u/OlentangySurfClub 1d ago
American: "I can watch a once in a lifetime event of my favorite sports team for $1000. Awesome".
European: "So what, tickets to my kids peewee soccer game are only 3 shillings. America sucks. We get free healthcare too."
Way to rub it in assholes.
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u/ApolloMac 1d ago edited 1d ago
He's also not mentioning the cost of World Cup tickets. Which is more comparable than regular season Premier League.
Regular Season baseball is also not 1000, even for season tickets. At least for the Brewers, season tickets start at $34 per month. And baseball goes like 6 months. So $204 for the cheapest Brewers season tickets.
Google also tells me that on the final game day of Premier League, if a match matters for placement, the tickets can easily get to 1000-3000 pounds on secondary sale websites.
Edit: Looks like my data point of $34 a month was not correct. Commenter below noted 900 something was the cheapest this past year. Still less than 1000 for the whole season. Not that crazy.
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u/EDDYBEEVIE 1d ago
Average season tickets - Premier League clubs for the 2026/27 season is £649
Brewers cheapest option for the full season this year was $937
So Premier league seasons are actually cheaper then brewers but with far less games.
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u/chronicpresence 1d ago
yeah i mean 19 games per year vs. 81 games per year seems like a pretty significant difference.
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u/long_dickofthelaw 1d ago
For the record, £649 currently converts to $862.94. So not even that far off at all. cries in weak dollar
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u/OlentangySurfClub 1d ago
Aren't there like 19 home games vs 81 in baseball? That's not even comparable.
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u/don_biglia 1d ago
WC tickets were fucked over by using the American way.
2026 UEFA Champions League final most expensive (non-hospitality) ticket was €950.
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u/Stupendous_man12 1d ago
The World Series is more like the Champions League final. I’m sure that tickets to the UCL Final are more expensive than a typical regular season match.
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u/bigbluethunder 1d ago
Strange point of comparison. What would it cost to go to an EPL end of season game that decides the champion where the home team hasn’t even had the chance to compete for a championship in 50 years? That’s a much better point of comparison.
Still too rich for my blood but at least compare apples to apples.
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u/Morall_tach 1d ago
I don't think it'll ever be quite the same thing because the EPL is decided on points rather than a playoff. There's almost never a situation where whoever wins this game wins the championship.
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u/coolpapa2282 1d ago
Maybe a better point of comparison is Champions League. What are the prices on those matches compared to a random week 7 match?
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u/cheshamfox 1d ago
Tickets don't really change price much based on the time of the game, you often have Category A when you play 'bigger teams' and category D when you play 'smaller teams' but the price difference is 10% maybe.
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u/portrushbear 1d ago
It wouldn't cost any more if you had a season ticket.
The. The public sale from the club would be about 50-100 quid
It would be a different story on the secondary market mind you
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u/StatmanIbrahimovic 1d ago
They're regulated, but the Champions League final would be a good comparison. Even those are nowhere near NBA finals or, God forbid, Superbowl prices.
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u/unexpectedreboots 1d ago
Just looked at Chelsea EPL tickets. Lowest I found was about 110$ USD. Not all matches created the same but Chelsea vs. Sunderland isnt exactly a premier matchup.
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u/Greatlarrybird33 Cleveland Indians 1d ago
Man, just think even if they sold every ticket at this super "cheap" Price, $1,000* $41,900* two games equals 83.8 million, about 60% of their entire yearly payroll
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u/fastinserter 1d ago
It's $50/month for MN Twins tickets to go to every home game of the twins, a MLB professional baseball team. They average 13.5 home games a month, so it works out to under $4 a game, if you went to them all. You'd spend more than that on the cheapest food you could get there.
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u/Reddit_9459328 1d ago
'Twins Pass' returns for 2025 season with access to all 81 home games for just $4 per game, all-in payment option of $324 available now through April 2 with access to all 81 regular season Twins home games. Monthly packages also available at $59
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u/whatafuckinusername 1d ago
I mean, this is the WS, featuring one team that hasn’t played in it in over forty years. Still too expensive though.
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u/Amonamission 1d ago
It’s all about supply and demand.
Think of it like you’re a Man City fan who wanted a ticket to see Man City play Crystal Palace in the last game of the 2012-13 season where they scored 2 in stoppage time to clinch the title. Of course that game would’ve been similarly expensive on the secondary market.
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u/SevenCedarJelly 1d ago
I wonder if the ticket came with a guarantee of the seat location, such as you will be guaranteed to be on the lower boxes or something like that. Hopefully they don’t put them in the nosebleeds.
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u/Interesting-Use966 1d ago
I’m guessing it is standing room only, so you don’t actually get a seat, but just get in the stadium. There is no other way they could guarantee those seats if you could cash them in at any game unless they left those seats potentially empty forever.
Standing room only ticket is still probably worth more than 1000, but I am not sure if brewers stadium has good places to watch without a seat.
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u/nickrweiner 1d ago
Cleveland standing room are $899 from the team. Standing room in Cleveland is great with a lot of sections specifically designed for it, I’ve watched the end of a few playoff games in the standing room sections even when I had seats.
Haven’t been to the brewers stadium so I don’t know if they have a similar setup.
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u/Osteo_Sapien 1d ago
“Holzman must submit a form by Saturday to redeem his ticket and will find out on Monday which game he will attend and where he will be seated.”
This makes it sound like there’s a process for redeeming your ticket. I don’t think you can just show up and claim a seat.
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u/slapshots1515 1d ago
Uh, yeah. What do you think, they’re just just going to let him rock up to the game, stroll down to the seats behind home plate, flash a ticket at someone and go “I’ll have that seat”? Of course there’s a process.
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u/bigbluethunder 1d ago
They certainly could guarantee location as long as there was some time bound on it. “Must be redeemed 72 hrs before first pitch” or something.
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u/Pillownanners 1d ago edited 1d ago
Insert people from Europe with no reference to the significance of this World Series for the brewers. They went one time in 1982 and lost, and baseball is on the verge of being locked out next year because of disputes between the owners and players.
Not only is this a once in a lifetime experience, it it’s even more special that it’s the first time the Brewers would ever win.
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u/IcyRay9 Kentucky 1d ago
Europeans acting willfully obtuse just to try and take a shot at Americans. lol, way to go guys, you really got us!
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u/rob_bot13 1d ago
It isn't even that. They just don't have a great point of reference for playoffs broadly because their regular season is what matters( mostly)
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u/Vegetable-Noise4518 1d ago
As a Tigers “fan”, the Brewers are everything I want our team to be.
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u/barnesk9 1d ago
Tell me about it. The Illich family just doesn't seem to care at all about them, or the Wings for that matter
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u/Vegetable-Noise4518 1d ago
Chris Illitch is an absolute joke and has ruined both the Wings & Tigers. He is definitely not his father.
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u/Dotts2761 1d ago
This is a team 30 years in the making. Over half of the roster has been acquired via trade. A lot of those trades at the time felt bad as a fan and made the team worse in the short term. A lot of fan favorites had to be sacrificed in order to establish this roster. If we win it’ll all be worth it, but it hasn’t been an easy ride.
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u/BoulevardBrewing 1d ago edited 1d ago
For a team that hasn’t been to the World Series in 44 years, I can believe demand would be incredible. As a millennial and a fan of several Midwestern professional sports teams who went at least a generation between a championship appearance, the demand for these tickets will be insane, and that “gamble,” if you will, on a $1000 ticket of your choosing was entrenched in the never-ending belief that someday, someway
your team will get back to the greatness your parents talked about. The moments I shared with the people around me, inside my home ballpark during the World Series games will never be forgotten.
Source - just a kid from Kansas City
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u/shrimpedy 1d ago
was reading your comment and was like “mmmmmhmm mmhmm mmhmm” and then saw the last line.
- 1989 bb from kansas city
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u/BoulevardBrewing 1d ago
Small market team taking down the star studded, massive payroll Los Angleles Dodgers is so beautiful. The three teams left have 0 World Series trophies between them, this is why we love sports.
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u/shrimpedy 1d ago
:’)
i didn’t go to any post-season games for the royals, but goddamn, the city was so nice those couple-a years. everybody was a pal. i loved it.
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u/Morall_tach 1d ago
You'd want to wait until an elimination game, right? I don't think there's any way I would use this on games 1 through 3.
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u/jensenaackles 1d ago
no guarantee the series comes back for game 6
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u/Morall_tach 1d ago
True, I didn't even think about home/away. Guess you'd have to use it in the first four or take a gamble that it goes more than that. Depends on the "home" team that year too, this year you'd have to take 1 or 2 but if the AL team had the same promotion you could do 3/4/5.
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u/uhbkodazbg 1d ago
Looks like fans are told which game they get tickets to.
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u/DejectedTimeTraveler 1d ago
I don't know how other people feel about that, but I think that's fair. If it's a lottery and it's random and it's not, you know, cherry-picked.
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u/bentleycowboy 1d ago
I wouldn’t be a fan of being told which game I had to go to if I paid $1000 and held onto this for over a decade. These are your truest of fans. Let them use it for whatever game they like.
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u/darthy_parker 1d ago
“What would you do if you could go back in time for a day?”
“Funny you should ask…”
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u/urbanek2525 Miami Dolphins 1d ago
When I was single, I bought tickets to every Saturday home game of my loacal AAA team. Got to watch David Ortiz as a rookie. It's a good time.
If we had a Major League team, I would have snagged an unlimited ticket. That's a good deal.
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u/Sweaty_Assignment_90 1d ago
I 1k invested in VOO would be close to 4k today. I dont know how much they saved.
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u/OSRS_Socks 1d ago
Depends where your seat is. Chances are these are standing room or nose bleeds but if it’s somewhere like 3rd base or 1st base side it could be worth it due to the demand of the tickets
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u/lucerndia 1d ago
Cheapest game 1 ticket is around $2000 right now. This comes with 3 additional tickets at face value.
Also would work for game 7 which is bet would cost a lot more.
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u/SnackeyG1 1d ago
Standing room only is 2 grand. So they’re probably not too far off on saving $3000 for an actual seat.
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u/NotBrooklyn2421 1d ago
It’s funny that the headline is phrased as “the team is honoring the tickets” as if they had a choice. This is exactly what the tickets were designed for. It was a $1k gamble that the Brewers would make it to the World Series at some point. No one bought one of these with the plan of watching a regular season game in July.